


I know we're the crooked kind

by janie_tangerine



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: (not robb or theon or GW), (probably), (sort of AGAIN idek), Abuse of italics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Red Wedding, Character Death, Character Death Fix, Consent Issues, Creepy Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Minor Violence, POV Alternating, POV Second Person, Past Abuse, Spoilers for Book 5 - A Dance with Dragons, The Author Regrets Everything, Warging, if you think this is creative writing you're probably right, more specifics re the consent issues in the notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 23:30:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1797334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>where Robb wargs into Grey Wind and they don't die at the Red Wedding, and they meet Theon on his way to Moat Catilin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I know we're the crooked kind

**Author's Note:**

> so, I started this ages ago for a kinkmeme prompt whose gist was 'Robb wargs into Grey Wind, they escape the RW and meet Theon while he's going to Moat Caitlin'. Then I never finished it because I thought it was getting entirely too weird and I didn't know how to go on. Then an anon on tumblr asked me if I was taking prompts and whether I'd write warg!Robb-inside-Grey-Wind meeting up with Theon and since I had the story half-written I figured I'd just go and finish it. (Btw, anon, if you're reading, SORRY I WAS SO LATE) And since it's throbb week I went and finished it, so have throbb week fic number two.
> 
> Spoilers: it got weirder. Meaning, this has alternating POVs, Theon's is in second person and Robb/Grey Wind's is... third, but weird. I just honestly hope it's nothing too convoluted and apologies again. If it looks like I was experimenting, well, I was experimenting. The title is from Radical Face, nothing whatsoever belongs to me.
> 
>  **Warnings** : [skip this if you don't mind the consent issues warning and you don't want spoilers] since this is supposed to be set when Theon's in the mindset he is at the beginning of ADWD, he's definitely not in what you'd consider his right mind. He also blatantly tells Robb that if he wanted to warg into him he'd be amenable, which Robb does *not* want to do. Eventually, it *does* sort of happen but it's a halfway thing and Theon is consenting to Robb doing it, and it's nowhere near permanent or anything of the kind, but I figured I'd give a heads up. There's also no sex whatsoever involved in this, just to make clear that we're not talking about that kind of consent.
> 
> (Sorry. I don't even know. Tomorrow we shall be back to less creative attempts.)
> 
> Also: I'm pretty sure warging doesn't work like this 100% or whether such a thing as consensual warging exists, but let's just pretend it does.

It’s the smell that gives him out.

Not the stench. Not _that._ At the beginning it felt overwhelming, and for a moment it had stopped them – they’re used to strong smells (Robb is too, by now), but that stench had made the human part of them almost recoil in disgust. Then they had started to move away. No time to worry about some smelly old man riding their same way. They have to find Summer or Ghost – they can feel the others, too, but they are the closest and – there’s not a plan beyond that. But the wolf side aches to be reunited with the rest of their pack, and the human side aches for _any_ of his siblings. They never really disagree. And they both know that there’s no way to reverse this.

But then – it’s not just the stench. There’s _another_ smell underneath, a smell that the wolf side knows perfectly because the human side had known the owner intimately, and –

Yes. It’s him. It has to be him.

They turn back and run after him – not that it will take much to catch up with him. He rides so slowly.

 

_You don’t have time to even feel surprised – you hear a roar behind you and the horse is startled, and you lose control of it. You’ve fallen on the ground before you can attempt to grab the reins, and at least you’ve fallen on a bush – but the horse is gone, running straight ahead for Moat Caitlin._

_You hear that roar again. A wolf, probably. Or a large wild dog. You close your eyes, feeling your shoulders shake, figuring that maybe it’s going to be a quicker death than starving in the wild. You’re in no condition to walk or run or go back to Ramsay, and you don’t know why you’re feeling relief mixed with shame, and every muscle hurts, and –_

_The wolf moves in front of you._

_And you wish you could scream, but you can’t because you haven’t done that in so long, you taught yourself how not to._

_But you have heard that the wolf wasn’t killed at the Red Wedding._

 

They look at him and – it’s wrong. He’s not supposed to look like _this_. This is nothing like it. But the smell doesn’t lie and from the way his eyes go suddenly wide before closing, as he lowers his neck towards you… no. It’s him.

It’s definitely him.

The human side remembers a piece of skin. The wolf side remembers never catching any bad vibe coming from him, even if in the end it didn’t turn out the way it should.

They both know that their brothers are alive, though. So he lied. Why, they wonder as they move closer.

 

_A handful of seconds pass. You don’t die. You had thought it would happen in seconds, and you don’t know if you should open your eyes or not, but in the end you do, and Grey Wind is right in front of you, not moving, not doing anything, just looking._

_It’s not right, though. There’s something different. You thought you had forgotten the way the direwolf used to look, but you remember it clearly enough right now, and – there’s something that changed. You don’t know what, you can’t say, maybe it’s that it’s so silent… but no. Ghost was the silent one._

_Then you look at it in the eyes, meeting the stare, and –_

_“No,” you whisper, feeling like you might vomit. The eye color is all wrong, and everything else is, but that look – there’s just been one person who ever looked at you like that._

_It can’t be._

_Because if it was, then Reek should have died the moment the wolf set his eyes on him._

 

He doesn’t even attempt to escape, even if his face contorts in a pained expression.

They have a good look at his teeth and the human side wants to recoil all over again. He knows that it’s not what he had wanted. He knows that he would have never ordered it. He hadn’t. He knows that.

They don’t run. They merely move closer, until Theon finally looks at them again.

“Robb?” he asks, his voice so small it’s barely audible. “You’re – you’re in there, aren’t you?”

It’s – it’s not wrong.

 

_You’re holding your breath as the wolf moves closer. The head nods. Once._

_You don’t know you’re shaking until you feel every part of your body doing so, and you know you’re crying as you try to tell him that you’re sorry and that you deserve to die and please just do it right now even if you have no right to ask for it._

_The last thing you expect is to feel a paw covering your knee – it hurts, relatively, but not as much as it should._

_“I’m sorry,” you say again, feeling salt on your lips. “I’m sorry, I never should have – I had it all wrong and I ruined everything for the both of us, but I swear – I swear I never killed them, it wasn’t them, you should know at least –”_

_And then the words die on your tongue when the wolf gives you another small nod, and those eyes are still looking at you the way Robb used to when he knew you were full of bullshit, and it only makes you cry harder. He doesn’t look as if he’s thinking about ripping you open, though. You raise your left hand without thinking about it, your remaining three fingers shaking hard as you reach for the head, and he doesn’t move when you touch his neck. If anything, he’s still looking at you as if he can’t fathom what happened, and you feel a fresh wave of tears rising to your eyes as your fingers caress his fur tentatively._

_You must be crazy to even assume you have the right to do this._

 

Everything feels wrong. Mainly the fact that he has three fingers – the wolf side remembers clearly a time when it was five of them. They both know they should be angry, but they only feel sad at worst. He’s touching them as if he expects it to be the last thing he does. The human side – Robb – thinks, _when was the last time he touched someone willingly_ , and it’s gone in a moment, but it makes them take another step closer.

They’ve seen too much death. And neither part wants to be the thing that kills him.

 

_You’re almost expecting him to snap at that._

_When instead he moves forward and his tongue touches your other hand – and why would he, it’s covered in filth as much as the rest of you – you stop thinking._

_You forget about being Reek, you forget that if Ramsay was here he’d tell you to kill the wolf right now and you throw your arms around him, figuring that if he kills you it’s his right and at the moment it doesn’t seem like the worst way to leave this world. Not that you could actually kill him if you tried._

_But he lets you instead. He lets you bury your face in the fur against his neck as you mutter apologies that you can’t even understand yourself, he almost seems to lean into it, and he’s so warm in comparison to you. You can feel his heart beating fast as you clutch at him. Almost as fast as yours._

 

Neither of them understands much of what he’s saying but it’s fine – the sentiment is clear enough. His entire frame is shaking and for the first time in a long time they wish they could speak, because there are a lot of things the both of them would want to ask him.

Then again, maybe there could be a way. They don’t move for a long time and Theon doesn’t either, and when he finally backs away murmuring something about everything hurting and knowing he’s going to die for this, they shake their head. He sits down on the ground, evidently exhausted, and he obviously doesn’t expect it when they sit down next to him. He seems to understand that they aren’t leaving, though, and he falls asleep with his head pressed against their side.

Good. Time to see if they can do it – if _Robb_ can do it.

 

_You know you’re dreaming because you’re in Winterfell’s yard and it’s spring, you have all your fingers again and you feel whole, but there’s something queer about it. You haven’t dreamed in such a long time, and never as vividly as this._

_“Theon?”_

_The bow you were holding falls from your fingers as you turn to your left._

_It’s Robb. He looks older now, though, wearier, and paler, and he’s wearing torn clothes._

_You fall down on your knees before you can think of doing anything else, and the last thing you expect is for him to kneel in front of you and put a hand on your shoulder – he’s moving strangely, though._

_“I haven’t done this in a long time,” he whispers, and suddenly you get it._

_“You’re – you came into my dream the same way you went into your wolf?”_

_“I didn’t know if it would work,” Robb admits. “It’s not as if I can leave, but I thought this could come close. Not having a human body can be a problem if you want to talk.”_

_You have no clue of how this even works – maybe you should have paid more attention to what was said about northern witchcraft a life ago – but if Robb is somehow living inside Grey Wind and he’s here right now…_

_“Take mine,” you say quickly, not even managing to look up at him._

_“What?”_

_“It’s the least I could give you. It’s not – it’s not ideal right now. But it’s human. And I’m not – I don’t –”_

_“Theon, there’s just one thing I want from you. And it’s nowhere as huge as that.”_

_You can’t help it – you look up at him, and you hadn’t expected him to seem more mildly worried than… angry. Or furious, actually._

_“Anything you want,” you say through the lump in your throat._

_“I want to know what happened since you went to Pyke. Everything.”_

_A part of you tells you that you shouldn’t, Ramsay would kill you slowly for this instead of – but he’s looking at you as if he really wants to know, and he’s using your name, and before you know you’re telling him everything from the beginning._

_When you’re done and you look at him again he looks sick._

_“I never ordered any of it,” he says, sounding sick as well, and – maybe it should not matter, but somehow it does, and your fingers are fisted in his torn cloak before you even know what you’re doing._

_Then again you hadn’t expected him to reach forward and put his hands on your shoulders and haul you in, and you’re shaking again – if only you could sleep forever._

_“Come with me,” Robb says a moment later, and you go still at once._

_“What?”_

_“When we wake up. Come North with me. I was searching for the others, I can sense them when I’m with Grey Wind, and… they aren’t far. I don’t think so.”_

_“But –”_

_“If you were about to mention Bolton’s bastard, I think I can take care of him. Well,_ we _can.”_

_For a moment he grins and it looks almost inhuman, but it’s gone a moment later. You can’t help it – you reach up with your momentarily whole left hand, your fingers shaking as they brush against Robb’s cheek._

_“I don’t deserve it. You should leave me to die there and you know it. And I’ll slow you down.”_

_“No,” Robb replies, almost leaning into the touch – as if he misses being touched like that, too. “No, I know enough to be sure of it. And – it’s better than being dead, of course, but we’re so alone. It’s been like that since then.” Robb’s voice almost breaks – you think you know what he’s referring to. “It’s been so long. Please?”_

_He shouldn’t ever say that word to you, you decide. And – the part of you that wants to say no and go back to the Dreadfort after trying to get that damned fort back is getting smaller by the moment._

_“Yes,” you whisper, not knowing how much you wanted it until you said it out loud, and then he’s grabbing you tighter but you can feel that it’s almost over, that the dream won’t last much longer, and when it ends it doesn’t matter that you’re clutching at him so hard that it hurts._

 

He opens his eyes slowly and grimaces, as if he’s taking in his body’s conditions all over again, and then he turns and looks at them – Robb isn’t exactly present right now, recovering from the effort, but Grey Wind knows enough and he sits down on the ground again. Theon strokes their fur behind their ear again and Grey Wind can feel that it makes Robb pleased.

They should leave, though. They’ve been here too long already. They grasp a piece of the rags he’s wearing with their teeth, tugging forward. Theon seems to understand what they mean – he forces himself to stand up on unsteady legs.

“I’m good,” he whispers. Robb is saying _go slow, let’s stop at the next river and at the next town, he needs clothes at least_. Grey Wind goes slow and Theon follows them along the path, still sending them wary glances as if he doesn’t believe it’s really happening.

They keep on going slow.

They find a river – Theon only washes his face and hands when they get there, but then again, Robb supplies, without clean clothes it’d hardly help to take a full bath. The next town over, they think, but the road in between the Dreadfort and Moat Caitlin is hardly full of towns. 

Robb doesn’t try to get out at night for the next few days – it was too tiring and both of them need to be alert.

Somehow, he knows it’s a bad idea to let that guard down.

 

_You can’t help shaking away the feeling that you’re both in danger. You should have gotten to Moat Caitlin a while ago, Ramsay will know by now that you never arrived there at all, and you’re not stupid enough to assume no one will come looking for you._

_It’s been a few days. Your feet hurt. At night you sleep curled around Robb, or Grey Wind, or the both of them, and Robb never came back into your dreams, but you hadn’t expected it to happen, even if you want him to._

_Every morning you look into the wolf’s eyes and quietly say that you really wouldn’t mind if Robb decided he wanted a human body to inhabit for a while. The wolf always shakes his head, looking at you as if he can’t fathom why you’d even offer, but then again you can’t even explain it to him, can you?_

_How are you supposed to tell him that your body hasn’t been yours for months by now and that you’d be happy to know he had it rather than anyone else?_

_You also know you’re walking the road to Winterfell._

_You aren’t surprised when you run into a small number of men wearing Bolton cloaks, and for a moment you wish Robb had killed you days ago, but you don’t have the time to dwell on it._

_One of them escapes – you see him._

_The others, though, are dead before they can get their swords out. Grey Wind’s teeth are red with blood when he moves away from the last body, and gods but he ripped them all apart except one._

_He nods towards the body, then uses a paw to touch the man’s clothes._

_You’re following the river. So you take off your rags, take a bath and put on the soldier’s uniform – it’s large on you, and you’d rather not wear a Bolton cloak, but it’s cold and you can’t afford to protest. It feels nice, having clean garb on, though._

_That night you fall asleep curled around the wolf again, his teeth still stained pink even if he more or less washed the blood away into the river as well, and you don’t dream at all._

 

They go another three days without meeting anyone.

They also still go slow, of course, but they don't mind. It's nice, not being alone anymore. Even if Robb always feels sad whenever Theon tells them that he could take his body.

Robb doesn't want it, he never could ask for something like that, and Grey Wind somehow feels that it would be a colossally bad notion if they tried it, and so they never take him up on that offer. It's fine like this. They survived for now, they will survive still.

On the fourth day after meeting the Bolton men, the three of them find themselves in front of more armed men.

This time, though, they have a proper commander.

One who wears a pink cloak and has long, slimy black hair, and who says –

“So _that_ ’s what you were doing, Reek? I didn’t think it would take this little to forget yourself.”

Theon falls down to his knees the moment the man says that.

So – so that must be Ramsay Bolton, Robb thinks, faintly, and then he’s not sad anymore but he’s _angry_ , as angry as he was during those last few days before the wedding when he wouldn’t let Grey Wind get close, and –

For the next handful of moments, there’s no blurred line in between them anymore.

 

_You wish you could do anything to help, but instead you just stay frozen on your knees as Robb, or Grey Wind, or both, lurch forward._

_You don’t really see anything. It’s just – it’s all a huge blur of red and screaming and sounds of armor clattering and by the time it’s done you only see dead horses on the ground and men yelling while laying on the ground with all their limbs set wrong._

_The direwolf is standing over one man, though, and you force yourself to stand up and drag yourself over there. Grey Wind has a paw on Ramsay’s stomach, holding him down. He’s bleeding from a gash in his middle, and his pink cloak is soaked in red, and – now that he’s standing over him? He doesn’t look as imposing and scary and larger than life anymore._

_“Reek, how could you?” he croaks, coughing blood._

_A part of you wants to fall back on your knees and say sorry._

_But it’s so small now, you can ignore that._

_“I’m not Reek. My name is Theon,” you say, your eyelids burning because after all you never realized how the person who turned you into this jape of a broken body was – a man just like anyone else. Then you turn your back on him._

_He screams._

_You don’t feel a thing._

_But then later, when you’re far from that piece of wood and you’re laying down on the ground, you can’t sleep at all, and you can’t stop yourself from shivering, never mind that a few tears escape your eyelids even if you try to push them back. Grey Wind’s head bumps against your knee, and there’s dried blood in the fur but you don’t care, and it’s still not enough because you can’t believe he’s dead, you can’t believe it was so easy, you can’t believe they did it for you when you didn’t deserve any of that and if only he hadn’t ruined you –_

_You feel something._

_It’s – it’s weird. You shiver, and your head feels heavy, and you just don’t know what’s going on at all except that then you think you hear someone telling you_ please let me in for a moment I swear I won’t do anything you don’t want me to _and no it’s not someone, it’s –_

 _You have no clue how you go about letting Robb in for that matter but of course you would, didn’t you ask for it a while ago, and so – so you just think_ yes _and try to relax a bit, not that it works, and –_

You’re breathing but you’re also not.

It’s s strange.

You can feel your chest moving steadily. Air moves in and out, in and out, and you look down at your hands.

They aren’t shaking anymore.

One moves. It’s not you moving it, though, and you don’t know what’s happening until –

Until your own arms cross over your chest and grab at your hips, and you’re a bit warmer now, and then your hands squeeze.

Oh.

_Oh._

You don’t know if you’re crying.

But you might be.

 _Calm down_ , Robb says, and – it’s so strange, it was as if you were thinking that except that you were not. It was his voice, though. It felt like a thought, but it was –

Well. Maybe because he is thinking.

 _I am_ , he replies, sounding faintly amused. Just faintly, though. _That’s fine. Just calm down. Don’t worry, I’m not staying for long._

“You could,” you say, and well. It seems like you can still speak – that was your voice, and it came from your mouth, so whatever Robb’s doing he’s leaving you some control. “I meant it,” you keep on. “I meant it, it’s not much but –”

 _Calm down_ , Robb says again, and you’re breathing but _not_ all over again. _I shouldn’t even be doing this. And it’s working out so well just because you’re – you’re being a completely reckless mad idiot and you actually want me here. It wouldn’t otherwise. You’re fine. He’s dead. All right?_

“All right,” you answer, and your fingers grip even tigther at your sides. You’re pretty sure you don’t have that much strenght left. It has to be Robb. And you know what he’s trying to do, and you don’t know if it just makes you want to cry harder or just to lean back and let him take control.

Hells, having him taking contol sounds like a better option than the last year of your life.

But then.

_I suppose I can’t ask you to get some sleep._

“I can’t.”

_Well, I’d like to do this properly and I can’t from here._

“No. No, stay, please –”

_I can’t. I can’t do that to you. I could never. It’s your body. Yours. Don’t ask for that._

You want to cry at that. It might be your body but it’s not worth anything and he still wouldn’t take it, even if he has all the rights, even if he should. And yes, now you want to see him, you want to see him so much, but how can you even go to sleep after this? You can’t. You’re too tense.

And then.

“Can you make me? Go to sleep, I mean.”

_As long as I leave on time, I guess._

“Do it.”

You feel your arms go down to your sides. Your body moves on its own and it’s strange but probably nowhere near as scary as it should feel, and Grey Wind curls up against you when you lay down on the ground.

Your eyes close even if you don’t do it, and then it’s all warm but it’s also dark and you’re still so tense –

_No. Don’t go there. Just let go. You’re fine. Don’t fight it. Don’t and we can see each other again soon. That’s it. That’s it, let it go._

You feel him leaving when your limbs are so heavy you couldn’t move even if you wanted.

 

_You open your eyes again and you’re back in Winterfell, your fingers are whole again, your body isn’t barely holding itself together, and –_

_“Hello.”_

_You look up and Robb is there, still wearing torn clothes, and he looks – tired? Maybe?_

_“Well, after this is over I’ll be exhausted,” Robb says, and somehow he read your mind but then again he’s been in your mind and he still somehow is, right? “But I think it’s worth it.”_

_And then he’s smiling, tired but so very sincere, and –_

_You don’t know if you fall into his arms or if he falls into yours but you’re clutching at him and he’s clutching back at you, and he feels so warm and real and as your body slots against his you feel like a missing part of yourself just slot back into place, and it feels so very real when his mouth touches yours._

_“Please stop asking me to – to take you,” Robb says when he leans back. “I never could. Just come North with me.”_

_“I’d go anywhere with you,” you sob against his mouth, and it feels so good to finally say it. It was the only thing you realize you should have done. You should have gone with him._

_“Now and always?” Robb asks, sounding so hopeful you can only kiss him again._

_Yes, you answer every time you lean back to catch a breath you don’t even need, and you don’t care that the situation is everything but ideal._

_And you know you will go anywhere with him – or them, it’s not even important._

_You’ll go anywhere with them even if it kills you._

 

In the morning, he opens his eyes long after the sun is up. Robb isn’t really here now, he’s too tired, but Grey Wind is alert enough. He looks down at the two of them with such a fond stare, and then his maimed hand cards through the fur at the back of their neck carefully.

“So. North?” He finally says, his voice sounding a bit steadier than usual.

They can’t answer, but there’s no need. They get up, and he gets up with them, and they start walking.

They’re going home.

End.


End file.
